Is an Uilleann chanter chromatic?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 9:03 am

"If you want a fully chromatic chanter get an Oboe and leave the Irish Pipe as it should be with its drones."

Oh, so that's what I'm doing wrong ??

I haven't played an oboe in... in... in... 36 years (has it been that long?) and I've been checking eBay every other month for a deal.
I wonder if I can hook up a bag & bellows to one!

tansy · Post by **tansy** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 10:30 am

the uilleann pipe chanter is"chromatic enough".
concerning tony's question about the shutoff on the drones, i use it for those tunes which sound horrible with drones on. E minor tunes for example. i find myself not working on tunes that sound bad with the drones because they come so hard for me, that if i put all the effort of learning a new tune, i want to have a tune that is able to thrill me by sounding good with the drones. i think that this is a problem for my progress but i have to keep it fun.

No E · Post by **No E** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 11:12 am

The other great thing about the drone shut-off switch is that it is a whole lot easier (not to mention quieter) to do the intial pump-up on the bag with the drones closed off. It's also quite handy when testing the air-tightness of a set.

No E

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 2:14 pm

The earlier sets didnae have drone shut off switches which kind of reinforces the point that the original sets were meant to be played with the drones on ,my reference to the Oboe was an obvious one that if you didnae want to play the complete instrument then you may as well play an oboe or anything else for that matter.A bird wouldnae fly very gracefully on one wing so why play only a third of the instrument!!

Slan go foill
liam

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 2:43 pm

Uilliam,
Keep up with us man... the world is round!
Uilleanns are much more versatile than you want to give them credit for.
A bird flying with one wing? OK, you brought up a really good point that I've been holding back on for the longest time. How many people have purchased a practice accordian and 'added' the cord buttons later? What about buying a bassoon with only 10 keys and adding the other 20 at a later date? a nine string sitar and add the other 11 down the road... a suck harmonica and add the blow reeds when you get the first part right?

Larry, I'm with you on that.

Tansy, that's my point. I love a C chanter with D drones... only have 3 tunes I can play on it though. Still looking for a pretty belly dancer to go with the music.

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:04 am

[quote="Tony"]Uilliam,
Keep up with us man... the world is round!
Uilleanns are much more versatile than you want to give them credit for.
A bird flying with one wing? OK, you brought up a really good point that I've been holding back on for the longest time. How many people have purchased a practice accordian and 'added' the cord buttons later? What about buying a bassoon with only 10 keys and adding the other 20 at a later date? a nine string sitar and add the other 11 down the road... a suck harmonica and add the blow reeds when you get the first part right?

Tony I don't know what your on but do you really have to be so ,well,... facitious!!!!
The original query was re the Chanter being chromatic and the chanter cannot be divorced from the bag or bellows drones or regulators, otherwise it is no longer a bagpipe and may just as well be a mouthblown instrument ie an oboe.
Only two major chords can be played using the FULL instrument and three minor chords.GD Maj.EBA min. Ebmaj would be no use for dance music playing.Play a tune in C# or F for that matter.with the drones...You would need more than a belly dancer to make it enjoyable.Which kinda makes the question of it being chromatic rather academic.
One query judging by your comments ...just how long have you been actually playing the Irish pipes?
Uilliam

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 10:17 am

Uilliam,
While I was trying to be funny, you were trying to be serious, I'm sorry it annoyed you.

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 11:01 am

Tony no problemo,I should lighten up a bit but I've been flaffing around with my regulators all day trying to tune the sodden small one and I am going dooladdy never mind I'll leave them till tomorrow.Enjoy your day
Slan go foill
Liam : :roll:

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 11:24 am

Thanks Liam, I will.
I've been invited to a former bandmates gig today... it's been 30+ years since we performed together. He asked me to bring my bass guitar and sit-in on a few songs.

Best of luck with those regulators!

stew · Post by **stew** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 3:19 pm

I thought an unkeyed Concert D Uilleann chanter played a Diatonic scale

After the great debate anyone got a idea :roll: well what it

Antaine · Post by **Antaine** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 4:41 pm

playing a straight scale, it is...but with cross fingerings it's possible to reach an almost if not fully chromatic scale. I have been piecing together crossfingerings from people I talk to and think I've got a scale that's close enuff - some accidentals come up so rarely that an extremely close 8th note fits well in a tune. The most difficult ones to get right (with the exception of Cnat which is easy) have keys.

stew · Post by **stew** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 5:06 am

Antaine, Who's chanter do you play on I'd be most interested
to know.

Antaine · Post by **Antaine** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 10:13 am

Bruce Childress. I have two keys now and will be having him add the others soon, but every once in awhile i have something with an odd accidental that requires something I ain't gots a key fer, and I need to "fudge" it as best I can. The fingerings I've used havent' raised any complaints. I posted them on a thread earlier. any improvements to fingering suggestions would be greatly appreciated.